Man guilty of murder over dice game

Monday

Feb 25, 2013 at 12:01 AMFeb 26, 2013 at 9:04 AM

A Far East Side man was convicted yesterday of murdering a 27-year-old man over a game of dice. A Franklin County jury found that Kevin M. Gullick, 44, shot and killed David K. Burkes Jr. at an East Side house on Dec. 8, 2011.

Kathy Lynn Gray, The Columbus Dispatch

A Far East Side man was convicted yesterday of murdering a 27-year-old man over a game of dice.

A Franklin County jury found that Kevin M. Gullick, 44, shot and killed David K. Burkes Jr. at an East Side house on Dec. 8, 2011.

Gullick, of Whims Road, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with a chance of parole after 15 years, plus three years for using a gun. Common Pleas Judge Laurel Beatty found Gullick guilty of an additional charge of having a gun despite a felony conviction for drug possession, which could add three more years to his sentence. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 27.

Witnesses testified that they saw Gullick shoot Burkes at least once inside the house at 1703 Elaine Rd.

Burkes, of the South Side, died at the scene from a shot that ripped through his heart and liver, Assistant Prosecutor Nathan Yohey said during closing arguments on Friday. One witness testified that Gullick felt Burkes had cheated him in the dice game, Yohey said.

In a photograph of Burkes’ body, a single die is less than a foot from his outstretched hand on the floor.

The handgun used in the shooting was found at the scene with Gullick’s DNA on it, Yohey said, and a shell casing from the gun was found in the house.

“David Burkes was executed without a chance to defend himself,” Yohey said. “He was murdered in cold blood.”

Gullick, who did not testify, was wounded during an exchange of gunfire in the house, as was another man, Columbus police said. Investigators were unable to determine who else fired a gun.

Defense attorney Richard Cline said in his closing argument that the government’s witnesses were unreliable and at least one had changed her story between the time she was interviewed in the house and when she testified in court.

Physical evidence “doesn’t add up” to the prosecution’s conclusion that Gullick did the shooting, Cline said. He said it was apparent that Burkes was shot by a right-handed person, while Gullick is left-handed.